BY: Brandon Sudeyko
Starting off the continuous daily coverage of blog a day content. lets look at some OHL draft thoughts. not specifically my draft board thoughts because well... I am not the guy to go to for this. Do I know about the players in the draft? yes. Do I have the foggiest idea of where some of these kids will be drafted? yes. But there are so many variables into what can go into drafting these kids. So I decided to look at this topic in another way. Explaining everything that needs to be considered for the OHL Priority Draft.
NCAA Card - this is probably one of the biggest problems coming into the OHL draft. When top notch 'future star's play the 'I'm not going to play in the OHL, I will play in the States' game. I would have no problem with players doing this if they meant it. For the most part this tactic is used just as a bargaining chip or as a way to avoid going to a 'small market' or an undesirable location.
Switcharoo - with the addition of the 'supplemental draft pick' this has become a common tactic between GM's who are friends with others. The two teams will agree to select the other teams interest, knowing the kids will not report to their teams. They then trade the players to each other and they not only get their draft choice, the teams get a supplemental draft pick because the chosen player decided not to report. It wouldn't be outrageous to eventually see a 30 pick first round with 20 teams in the league.
Jerry McGuire - This is like the NCAA card but basically the hold out is over money. and you may be thinking... These kids are not paid. Well you are right... through their agents a deal is struck where some of these top drafted kids receive financial compensation for reporting, in upwards of 6 figures.
Need or Want - The age old debate of how do you draft. Need or want? The team could desperately need a defenceman to anchor their blueline for the next 3 years, but how do you pass up on a kid with a high offensive ceiling relatable to Jeff Skinner, or a Matt Duchene? You want that potential 20 goal rookie scorer to be your future, but that 'can't miss' goaltender has slipped by and you can select him. What is a team to do?
The in spite of selection - If the team selecting behind you wants this one player and you have no intention of drafting him to play for your team, but you draft him anyways. I call this the 'in spite of selection' because the main goal is to screw over the other team not only by selecting their draft pick that they wanted, but to then ransom the rights to the player for players or draft picks. It makes sense to do business this way... to a degree. As it will probably get you blackballed quickly.
To be fair there are a lot of other types of decisions that go into drafting a player. like their skill and such. But again. I am not here to discuss that. Just to inform the general audience of what you may see next Saturday when the OHL Priority draft occurs. Remember, these drafts, whether it be the OHL, QMJHL, WHL, or even the pros are a lot like Transformers. There's more than meets the eye.
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